‘Tis the season for eggnog, presents, shopping mall Santa
Clauses, Menorahs and Christmas trees. It is also the season for
caregivers to be able to hold the all-important Board of Directors’
Meetings. And by that, I mean having a meaningful meeting with
the adult members of your family who will be sharing holiday tables
with you in these coming weeks. It only makes sense, if you
are the CEO of Caring for My Loved One, Inc., that your family
members who are not involved with the day-to-day details of caring
for your shared loved one are, in effect, your Board of Directors
(for better or for worse).

What we will be doing in these Fearless Caregiver Board of Directors
Communiques during the coming weeks is offering you topic specific
agendas for meetings which can be held over after-dinner coffee or
even over drinks on the back porch after the kids go to bed.

Please allow me to attempt to offer some small measure of defense
for those family members responsible for the well-meaning, but
terribly uninformed, advice, criticism and commentary you are sure
to receive over these next few weeks. Sometimes, the challenge lies
in the difficulties of keeping everyone in the loop as you labor
throughout the year to care for your shared loved one. And
frequently, this breakdown in communication has been no fault of
anyone or anything but the lack of a convenient and capable
communication system linking everyone involved in your loved one’s
care. Think of all the people who need to be on the same page
throughout the year: you, your long distance loved ones, the
doctors, specialists and even the staff at the medical facilities.
Everyone should sing from the same hymn books (note the holiday
reference).

The reason that these communication challenges make for an important
Board of Directors Meeting is just how imperative it is to be able
to stay abreast of all of the elements necessary to care for your
loved one. And there are certainly a lot of moving parts to your
caregiving. Did you know that one-third of Americans ages 57 to 85
take at least five prescription drugs and people with chronic
illnesses may take more than 20? Never mind the fact that if your
loved one is a senior, they are probably seeing more that 12 doctors
a year. That is way too much information to keep on lined yellow
pads, in notepads or even in your head.

Solving the healthcare collaboration and coordination challenges you
face as a family caregiver should be one of the first topics of any
Board of Directors Meeting this holiday season. Once you establish
such an online system, the communication becomes more immediate and
accessible throughout the year. This is extremely urgent.
When care doesn’t go as expected, it is often because of untimely
follow-up and lack of communication.